<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=40RzZR_1FVEkHPZ00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=40RzZR_1FVEkHPZ00" width="1200" height="751" >Black bears roaming around town have never been a rare sight for Bozemanites — especially in the fall — however, this year's series of social media posts have captured the furry friends in areas that they probably shouldn't be. American black bears are incredibly common in wooded areas around the country. With that said, sightings are not unheard of in urban areas, as every year, Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) and the Bozeman Police Department respond to calls about bears in alleyways, backyards and trees. Morgan Jacobsen is the communication and education program manager for the FWP Bozeman Office. He has spent many years educating the public on hunting practices and best practices for outdoor recreation.“This time of year it's normal to see a high level of bear activity. You know, the biggest reason is bears become more active starting at the end of summer,” Jacobsen said. “They start in what's called hyperphagia, which is essentially a period when bears are active for longer periods of the day and they're just focused on eating and gaining weight in preparation for winter.”Jacobsen explained that bears coming into urban areas during hyperphagia is incredibly common because humans seem to unintentionally leave food for bears everywhere.“There's a wide availability of unsecured attractants in Bozeman. So things like, garbage in cans that are not very resistant or not stored in a secure place,” he said.Another potential explanation for why bears seem so much more active this year is a poor berry crop. An FWP press release from July 29, 2026 warns of increased bear activity this fall because of the poor harvest. “As the dog days of summer wear on across Montana, another reality is becoming clear — the berry crop bears depend on for food in the late summer and fall isn’t what it should be. Montana [FWP] specialists around the state are seeing similar behavior — bears that should be foraging for berries in the mountains are getting into trouble around homes and communities looking for something to eat,” according to the press release. Jacobsen supported this hypothesis, and explained potential reasons for the bad harvest.“There's some mixed success with berry crops this year, a common food source for bears this time of year — kind of at the end of summer,” he said. “We did have a very mild winter, but then we had a couple of late frost events that I think stunted berry crops in some places.”The largest issue with bears coming into urban areas is potential human-bear conflict. According to Jacobsen, bears are easily habituated once they realize that there is an easy food source around — even if it is one that we usually want them to stay away from, like bird feeders or garbage cans.“They're very quick to form the habit of coming back to that same place again and again to look for food, because it's a pretty big bang for their buck,” he said. “So when that happens, they get habituated and food conditioned and they are more difficult to haze out of the area.” Once bears get difficult to scare off, there are limited options to get them out of town. Jacobsen said that even if you were to relocate a bear that has formed habits related to humans, they will end up in another town somewhere else.“That kind of behavior can't be rehabilitated out of the bear, we can't just relocate the bear at that point, because it's just moving the problem somewhere else,” Jacobsen said. “And because of that human safety factor, you know, sometimes we have to euthanize the bear. And so, that's something we want to avoid, but it has happened many times in Bozeman.”The best way to avoid habituating bears is to keep attractants secured. The City of Bozeman offers bear-resistant trash cans for around $6 more a month, depending on what size garbage can you need. On how to prevent bear encounters in the first place, Jacobsen said he recommends mitigating attractants as much as possible. “Keeping garbage stored indoors, keeping bird feeders put away, pet food stored indoors — all those things,” he said. “[FWP] has a lot of educational resources for folks who want to learn more about how to prevent or deal with encounters and conflicts with bears.” Jacobsen also explained that a bear's presence alone does not constitute an emergency, saying that there are likely multiple bears in Bozeman at all times that nobody knows about.“Montana is bear country, and so it's safe to assume their presence anywhere, you know? It doesn't matter if you're in the middle of campus, or downtown Bozeman, or up in the mountains. There's always, you know, the chance of their presence there,” he said. To contact FWP’s Bozeman office, call (406) 577-7900. If there is an emergency involving a bear, call 911.</div></body>

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Black bears roaming around town have never been a rare sight for Bozemanites — especially in the fall — however, this year's series of social media posts have captured the furry friends in areas that they probably shouldn't be. American black bears are incredibly common in wooded areas...

Bear with them: it’s bulking season

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Black bears roaming around town have never been a rare sight for Bozemanites — especially in the fall — however, this year's series of social media posts h

Bear with them: it’s bulking season

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